Footprints of Thunder (54 page)

The interisland flights were operating, so they flew from Oahu to Hawaii. They left their lightweight tropical clothes in an airport locker in exchange for the heavier clothes the cooler climate demanded. Carrollee came out of the airport rest room wearing the least outlandish thing Emmett had ever seen her wear, but it was still gaudy. Her Levi’s were held up with bright red suspenders and she wore a long-sleeve red blouse and carried a red checked sweater. On her feet were hiking boots with red socks folded neatly over the tops, and her bright red lipstick matched her sweater and blouse. Emmett had chosen Levi’s too, and a University of Hawaii T-shirt. He carried a matching hooded sweatshirt. He wasn’t a hiker though and was wearing his Nikes instead of boots.

He was about to compliment Carrollee on being circumspect when she pulled a giant red and white checked bow out of her bag and clipped it to the back of her head.

“Did that outfit come with a red rubber nose?” he asked.

Carrollee let a smile flit across her lips, then feigned confusion. .

“What did you say about coming with a rubber?” She said extra loudly, turning heads at the airport.

Emmett blushed, opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind. He wouldn’t get the better of Carrollee.

Their conversation in the car alternated between somber and silly but avoided the issue of the time quilt. They discussed the plesiosaur and the unusual seaweeds, but Emmett held back what he knew about other dinosaurs from the PresNet. Then they discussed who would succeed Dr. Wang as department chair, and who might be recruited to replace the missing faculty. They recognized that issues of hiring, tenure, and promotion were part of the old world, but they refused to acknowledge the new order.

As they climbed the extinct volcano Mauna Kea, the air cooled and Emmett soon turned on the seldom-used car heater. Mauna Kea towered over Hawaii, the peak reaching 14,000 feet above sea level. At half the height of Mount Everest it was a nearly ideal location for the university to build an observatory. Several instruments sponsored by a variety of nations now speckled the lunarlike landscape that made up the peak. Emmett and Carrollee’s destination was the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, but any other optical instrument would serve their purpose.

The wind picked up as they climbed above the last of the vegetation into the broken lava fields that made up the mountain’s dome. The car was warm enough, but outside it was cold enough to snow, and indeed frost speckled the ground. Emmett knew blizzards were frequent here in winter, and that somewhere in a maintenance shed was the only snowplow in the islands. Even in the controlled climate of the car they began to feel the effects of the elevation and cold. The dry air made them lick their lips frequently.

“I’ve heard the air’s so dry up here, they have trouble with the electronics. Sometimes they boil pans of water to keep things working.”

Carrollee nodded her head.

“When do we break out the oxygen masks?” she asked.

“They fall down from the ceiling in an emergency. Seriously, are you feeling all right? It’s getting pretty thin. We’re two miles above sea level.”

“I’m okay. I was just thinking about one time we went skiing in Colorado. It took some time to get used to the altitude. I would get sick if I exercised too much.”

“Yeah, altitude sickness. We shouldn’t have a problem though, I don’t plan on skiing, or even walking much. Just watching them take the pictures and then getting off this frigid rock.”

“With Bree-geet up here I bet it’s not frigid.”

Emmett felt the prick.

“Some of those who work up here have trouble adjusting. The air is dry and oxygen poor. Thinking can be affected. A problem you might solve in fifteen minutes at the university can take an hour up here. But if you are going to build an observatory this is one of the best places in the world to do it.”

Emmett leaned toward the windshield and looked up at the sky. Carrollee did likewise, and they both found themselves lost in the speckled black ink. After a few minutes she turned to Emmett.

“We’ll be there soon. Don’t you think it’s time to tell me what’s going on? You didn’t seem all that surprised by what we found on the beach. I know I’m not security cleared or anything, but neither are you. After all, I’m a coconspirator in whatever it is we’re doing.”

Emmett had no real reason not to tell her everything he knew. The reports on the news were filling in enough pieces of the puzzle to make it obvious to anyone. He worried briefly about the legal implications but suspected there were enough problems in the world now to keep even the most officious bureaucrat busy and away from Carrollee. So, he told her. She knew of the various floods, fires, avalanches, tidal waves, and blackouts, and she had her own experience with the plesiosaur, but like most of the public, she had no idea how widespread these events were. When he finished explaining, Emmett found Carrollee wasn’t frightened by the idea of dinosaurs. Instead she seemed tickled.

“Imagine,” Carrollee said,
“Tyrannosaurus rex
roaming the earth again. How would you contain something like that? Electric wire three stories tall? Trenches? Fire? Oh, man-oh-man wait until my brother, Richard, hears about this. He’s going to want a hunting license. Of course he’d need a trophy room the size of a barn to put the head on the wall.”

After fifteen minutes she came to the fundamental questions.

“Why did this happen? Is it over? Will it happen again? Where did the people go who were where the dinosaurs are now?”

Puglisi explained as best he could about the effect of dense matter, the time waves and the displacement. He told her about the various theories and the extension he made in the Gomez model and how it might affect the moon. When he reported his contact with Dr. Paulson, Carrollee looked at him skeptically but seemed to realize that was no more impossible than dinosaurs showing up in the modern age.

“So what are you looking for up here?” she asked.

“Support for the theory. Evidence that the effect on the moon is reversed. Any data that can help fill in the picture. Dr. Paulson seemed particularly interested in the data. He didn’t say getting it was urgent, but he put some time into arranging it, time he could have used for any number of tasks. So if it’s important to him, it’s important enough for me to climb this ugly Popsicle to get it.”

Carrollee, silent, slipped into one of her rare pensive moods. After a few minutes Emmett missed her conversation.

“What are you thinking, Carrollee?”

Carrollee shook herself out of her mood and sat straight up in her seat.

“I’m thinking about my family on the mainland—my mother and my sister. I haven’t been able to reach them, but I know there have been telephone problems. I figured they were probably safe. Now I’m thinking they may not be there at all. Not dead, just gone. Gone somewhere in time. Is that what you’re saying? It makes me wonder if it could happen again? If it did, I wouldn’t want to be sent off to the future by myself. So, I guess I should stick pretty close to someone I would want to disappear with.”

“I don’t think it will happen again, not if we don’t start nuclear testing again.”

But Emmett began thinking of people
he
would want to be near if he were displaced. He didn’t have any immediate family, only an uncle in Iowa. After considering and discarding several names, he realized he was sitting with the only person who had a certain spot on the list.

The switchbacks became sharper and more irregular, telling them they were near the summit. The landscape was a monotony of frosted, cracked, black lava. The winds continued to pick up, blowing white granular material across the road.

“Is that snow?” Carrollee asked. “Incredible. Snow in the tropics. I knew it was up here of course, but I guess I never really believed it.”

The summit appeared suddenly. The flat of the barren lava dome was sprinkled with the high technology toys of civilization. Half a dozen observatory domes were spaced across the peak, most perched on square bases that housed support facilities. Other support buildings were situated nearby. It gave an altogether eerie effect, as if time displacement had shifted the trappings of a high-tech civilization to the cooling lava of the ancient earth. Each of the domes they could see had a four-wheel-drive vehicle or two parked at it, but Emmett was unsure of where Bridgette might be. Four cars were parked in a level area at the end of the road by the administrative building, and Emmett decided to start there.

They parked in the lot and then dressed more warmly. Carrollee’s red checked, sweater would only be adequate for a short walk in this kind of weather. When they opened the doors the cold dry air immediately sucked out moisture and warmth. Carrollee led the way, trotting to the building and bursting through the door. Inside they found chairs and tables making up a rudimentary lounge. It was empty, but music drifted down the hall, then a man came toward them, tall and slender, balding, with glasses pushed up on his forehead. He paused when he saw the visitors, staring at Carrollee, amused.

“We’re here to see Dr. LaSalle.”

“I’ll tell her you’re here.” The man continued to survey Carrollee, but with another amused glance he turned and walked back down the hall. While they waited, Carrollee wandered around, picking up astronomy journals and leafing through them. Suddenly the door opened.

Bridgette was as beautiful and sexy as Emmett remembered her. She was wearing what must have been designer overalls, baby blue and trimmed in white. Her matching jacket was trimmed in what looked to be needlepoint. She was as color coordinated as Carrollee, but more understated. Bridgette would draw attention, Carrollee screamed for it. Bridgette’s figure pushed and pulled at the fabric in ways that made Emmett’s body long for their old days together.

When the look on her face said she had none of those old feelings left for Emmett, his lustful reminiscence evaporated. Then Bridgette turned to look at Carrollee, eyeing her from the big bow on her head to her matching red socks.

“
Qui
est-ce que cela pourrait-etre, Emmett? Elle reassemble a Minnie Mouse.
”

Emmett wanted to laugh, but bit his lip. He had to admit that Carrollee did look like Minnie Mouse, with the short brown hair, and the red checked outfit topped with a big checked bow. You wouldn’t have to know any French to pick out the reference to Minnie Mouse. Carrollee’s face was red, but with anger, not embarrassment. You couldn’t dress like Carrollee and be easily embarrassed. Emmett held his breath when Carrollee’s mouth opened.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Dr. LaSalle, I’ve heard a lot about you from Emmett. He said you were so … well … easy …”

Emmett waited for Carrollee to add “to get to know” but she just let her unfinished sentence hang in the air. Bridgette bristled, but rushed on, as if she had not understood.

“How did you get Dr. Paulson to go along with this? If he hadn’t called I never would have consented to … this … abominable waste.”

“It was Dr. Paulson’s idea to confirm—”

“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was, it is a waste of resources. Come here, I want to show you something.”

Bridgette turned and walked outside. Emmett turned to follow, catching Carrollee’s eyes.

“Minnie Mouse! Everyone knows Minnie wears only polka dots and never checks!” Carrollee snorted. “Warm, isn’t she?” she continued. “She must have been awfully good in bed for you to put up with that kind of crap.”

Emmett didn’t answer. He just followed Carrollee out the door.

“Look over there,” Bridgette was saying, pointing to a dome set apart from the others, a road curving up to its rectangular base. “That’s NASA’s IRTF. Infrared telescope,” she translated, looking directly at Carrollee. “The only single-mirror infrared telescope bigger than NASA’s is right there,” she said, pointing to another dome that blended smoothly into its base. “And over there,” she continued, “is the seventh largest optical telescope in the world. And do you know what this telescope is doing right now?”

“Taking pictures of the moon?” Carrollee offered.

“That’s right,” Bridgette said patronizingly, turning to face Carrollee.

“It’s not my idea,” Carrollee said defensively. “I just came along to keep Emmett company. If I had my way
I’d
be taking pictures of Pluto.”

Clearly Carrollee was referring to Bridgette’s comments about Minnie Mouse. But Bridgette continued coolly,

“There are many things in the sky more worthy of an instrument of this power. I would have refused Paulson’s request outright if we hadn’t had some cancellations.”

“Cancellations?” Emmett prompted.

“Well, no shows actually. We have some gaps in our observation rotation, and we’ve had trouble contacting those on the waiting list.”

Use of the facilities was highly competitive, and not showing up was unheard of. Emmett understood why there were gaps in Bridgette’s schedule, but obviously Bridgette was uninformed about what had happened to the world below her. He decided not to tell her. He wanted his photographs.

“You said the photographic survey has already begun? Do you need any help?”

“We don’t need help. If you want the plates developed and printed it will take another hour and a half.”

Emmett decided it was worth the wait. He wasn’t sure he could get the developing done at the university, given the situation.

Two hours later they were traveling down off the volcano with a sheaf of photos. Carrollee drove while Emmett shuffled through them futilely, looking for some obvious change.

“I just don’t know enough about moon topography to do a good job on this,” he said finally. “Besides, I’m getting car sick.”

“Emmy not take his Dramamine?” Carrollee said in a babyish voice and clucked her tongue. “Just what are you looking for, anyway?”

“Something different. Some kind of change. Something that would support my model. Dr. Paulson wasn’t very specific.”

“Maybe you could ask someone to help you?” Carrollee suggested.

“I suppose you will be busy with your babies.”